1. Field of the Invention
The invention herein relates to scalpels. More particularly it relates to scalpels useful for thin section surgery.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are numerous surgical procedures (such as excision or reconstruction) in which it is necessary for the surgeon to make an oblique extended cut into the patient's skin and lift an elongated flap of the outer layers of the skin to obtain access to deeper layers of tissue, muscle or bone below. Once the desired surgical procedure is completed on the underlying tissue, muscle or bone, the flap (or "thin section") of the outer layers of the skin can then be replaced in its original position. The patient's skin then heals with little or no scarring or other indication of the surgery, since the only external trauma to the skin has been the single oblique scalpel cut, which is thin and is expected to heal readily and essentially invisibly.
In the past, however, it has not been possible with existing scalpels for surgeons to make such oblique cuts uniformly, cleanly and evenly. Conventional scalpels have been designed for perpendicular (vertical) cuts into the skin. If a surgeon wants to make an oblique cut, obtaining the desired angle and depth of the cut with a conventional scalpel requires exceptional manipulative skill by the surgeon to control the scalpel. In most cases, particularly with longer cuts and because of the flexibility and elasticity of skin, the result is a flap or thin section of non-uniform thickness, and a detrimental effect to the patient. The uneven angle of the cut can result in trauma to skin layers other than those intended to be cut. Similarly, the uneven thicknesses of the flap itself can lead to differential healing of the various segments of different upper skin layers. Both of these in turn can cause the resultant effect that upon healing an undesirable amount of visual indication of the prior surgery, such as scarring, still remains. This is particularly critical where cosmetic or reconstructive facial surgery is involved, since the goal of such surgery is to restore a natural unscarred appearance to the patient.